Three Years too Long
by Kyuseisha no Hikari
Summary: Three years ago, the person Dark loved was sent to war...three years ago he was told he would probably never see him again. Mourning how Krad was taken away from him during the holidays, Dark seeks to reminisce...but is greeted by a most welcome surprise.


_Yes, just to give you a quick idea of what this is…it's crap, really. I hate the title, hate the summary, hate the story. I wrote it at four in the morning because of the strangest dream, and so…this is a horrible piece of fanfiction. Do forgive me, and so…well…read it if you want to, but don't expect anything great. _

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Dark stared almost longingly out the frost-coated window, watching as the snow fell freely to the earth below. In his hands he held a cup of warm cocoa. Donning his lean torso was a thick sweater, and he wore a pair of jet-black sweatpants. His shoulders slumped at the sight of his neighbors' houses, richly decorated with Christmas lights and such.

Christmas eve…was tonight, he pondered, and a wave of remorse traversed his form.

_I hate Christmas...I hate this whole damn month._

Why?

Simple really—he was alone. But it hadn't always been that way. Christmas used to be a _wonderful_ time...back when he had someone to share it with. There was once, three years ago to this very day, when the love of his life was standing next to him—admiring the tree they'd made a habit to decorate so richly. But then he had left, and that's why he hated Christmas now.

He hated it because Krad wasn't there anymore, and Christmas had always been _his_ holiday.

And just what had happened to Krad? Humanity. The blonde had been, regretfully, dragged off to war in some strange, foreign place all by himself.

Dark grit his teeth together. The whole point was, Krad was taken away from him Christmas Eve, and it was almost certain that he would never come back.

After the couple was first seperated, time passed so slowly--even though they often wrote to each other. In February, two months almost to the day after Krad departed, Dark received a small letter from none-other than the same bastard force that stole the blonde away from him. That note was one of the worst things he'd ever known. Upon reading it…he learned that Krad had become missing in action.

He hadn't _died_ (they never found a corpse) but had been lost during a siege. No one ever found him.

Letting out a dry sigh, the amethyst eyed male broke his eyes away from the glass and headed towards the kitchen, still sulking.

The next letter he received came eight months later—December, again. It read, this time, to pray that Krad _was_ dead. An enemy camp recently demolished was found brutally torturing their prisoners, and death seemed far better than the life they had been living.

The phone rang, startling Dark. He composed himself and set down the cocoa down on his kitchen counter before he reached out and picked the phone up off it's hook. "Hello?"

"Dark? How are you doing?" Daisuke asked, concern lacing his voice.

"I'm cold..."

"I didn't mean…_that_…I meant…"

"Oh. You mean this year? ...Fine."

"All right…if you want, the invitation to my house is still open. Mom says she misses your company during the holidays."

"I know, but I have a hard time coping with this season. Everything gets on my nerves."

There was a loud ruckus in the background of Daisuke's phone line, and Daisuke let out a muffled yelp. A few seconds later, the redhead said rather quickly, "Satoshi needs my help…in…the kitchen, so I'll call you later!"

Dark smirked. "Yeah, yeah. You call me when you and your boyfriend are done making out, I'll still be here."

"_Dark_!"

"Have fun, Dai—Bye."

"Bye…"

Both phones clicked, and Dark still held a light smirk. "Oi, that kid," he mumbled to no one, only to be greeted by a set of great red eyes the moment he turned back to his drink.

"Kyu…"

"Wiz? What are you doing on the counter? You know you shouldn't be there."

"Kyu?"

"I know he's gone, but it's still his rule. 'No rabbit-things on the counter or I'll cook them'."

The white ball of fluff hopped slowly next to Dark, prying eyes gaping into his. An unvoiced question was heard, and Dark sighed. "I miss him. What about you?"

The small animal pondered, his mind briefly glimpsing a recollection of an irritated blonde shoving him off the counter multiple times, the constant attention _he_ received from Dark instead of him, the strawberries he always seemed to have around…

Wiz nodded, letting out a light 'Kyu' again before snuggling into Dark's arms.

"Yeah, I thought so. But...the chances of him coming back are slim. Do you think...? Never mind," Dark said, shaking his head before asking, "You hungry?" Before his pet could respond, Dark reached into the refrigerator and pulled out a plastic carton of ripe, red fruits.

Wiz's eyes brightened as a strawberry was placed in front of him. He gobbled it down eagerly, cuddling further into Dark's arms.

The violet haired male merely smiled, and turned to look at the picture he always kept hanging on the refrigerator. Krad had been reading a book, (the object had been thrown in the air when Dark jumped up on the blonde from behind) his face, though smiling, held surprise. Dark was smiling, too…

He didn't know how long he stood staring at the picture, in that trance, but he broke out of it when the phone rang. Unfortunately, Dark didn't have a chance to pick it up before the answering machine did, and a woman's voice—Emiko—said in a quivering voice, "Dark, I know you're there. You don't have to pick up the phone, but turn on the news. CNN or anything—just…please do it now."

Dark blinked and raised a brow at the message before shrugging. He walked over to his living room and set a now sleeping Wiz—when had that happened?—down on the couch and reached for the remote. Lazily he flipped on the TV and took a seat before turning the channel to the nearest news broadcast.

Drawing in a long breath, Dark nearly choked on it when he saw the screen. A disheveled blonde was yelling at a man wearing a suit with many pins who kept trying to give him an award of some sort.

Dark quickly turned up the volume and listened.

"Look," the blonde said, his voice tainted with irritation, "I don't give a _damn_ about any award. I want to go home. Now. Goodbye!"

"Sir—you're on _live_ television—will you not just allow me to present you this award?"

"No. Now leave me alone. I have to get back to someone," the blonde said, storming away from the camera crews.

"Can't that _wait_? Only one of these is awarded a year—only _one_ soldier gets these out of thousands—millions!"

The blonde called, not even stopping to look at the man, "No. I've kept this person waiting for three years, and right now, I really don't care. If it's _that_ important I get the award, send it in the goddamn mail! You've got all my information!"

And with that, the blonde disappeared off the screen and a woman replaced the scene. "There you have it," she said monotonously, "Krad Hikari has been missing for three years after being drafted. Taken hostage early in the war, he escaped and made his way back to the central unit. So far, he is the _only_ soldier that has lasted twelve hours after being recovered. The rest have, unfortunately, died of diseases, maltreatment, infection, blood loss…"

Dark stared at the screen and swallowed, blinking. Was that…had that really been…?

He was interrupted by a knock at the door and hastily made his way to open it. He barely had a chance to realize what was going on before he was lost in a set of golden orbs.

"Krad…?"

The blonde was more presentable now, his hair had been brushed and he was wearing a long black trench coat atop a white shirt and black slacks.

"Dark Mousy, I am ashamed. Why haven't you decorated for Christmas?"

Dark smiled, tears forming in his eyes as he enveloped the blonde in a warm hug. "God, Krad, I missed you…"

"I missed you too, Dark…I really did…"

"You were on television…"

"I know. When I got back this morning they wouldn't get the cameras out of my face…they keep replaying that footage, and I don't know why…"

"Come inside, you're freezing," Dark said, never letting go of the blonde. Leading him to the couch, the two collapsed atop it, the Dark still attached to the blonde.

"What have you done the past three years?" Krad asked after a moment, cocking his head to the side to get a better view of Dark.

"Missed you…"

Krad let out a light chuckle and snuggled deeply into Dark's embrace. Willingly, Dark held him tighter. "God, Krad—I thought you were dead..."

"Me? Dead? Not in a million years. When I made that promise to come back, I meant it..."

"Yeah..." Dark said, smiling. A long moment passed, and then the violet haired male asked, "What about you, Krad? What have you been doing?"

"Trust me, Dark, you don't want to know," the blonde said quietly, his voice laced with a sudden pain.

"Why not?" Dark pried, looking up at Krad worriedly.

"Because," the blonde said as he shrugged indifferently.

"Because…?"

"Just trust me, Dark. It's something you'd be better not knowing."

Dark was silent for a long moment before nodding. "All right. I trust you."

"Thank you…" The blonde murmured, yawning.

"Tired?"

"Very. I haven't had a good sleep since I saw you last…"

"Well then, I'll let you sleep alone…tonight."

"No, don't leave me _alone_. I just got home and already you're tired of me?"

"No! I just thought you'd like to have your own bed. You know, more room to spread out…and…stuff."

"I could go to sleep right here, right now. I don't need to spread out."

"You do that. I'll be here in the morning."

"Promise?"

"Yeah. And then we can go over to Daisuke's house for the Christmas party they keep inviting me to.

"Mmkay…" Krad mumbled sleepily.

"Goodnight Krad. I love you…"

"I love you, too…"

"Good," Dark said as he ran a tanned hand through the blonde's golden locks.

All of this seemed like a dream...it had happened so fast that for a moment he thought maybe it _was..._but...

Dark smiled, laying his head on Krad's. So _maybe_ Christmas wasn't so bad anymore...

_--_

_See? Told you. It's horrible. I'm sorry you even had to read it. It was too short…and it was boring. And it sucked. I'm so very, very sorry… maybe someday I'll go back and make it longer. And better. Bleh. Thanks for reading! (Even though it was bad…)_


End file.
